The
race was started behind the safety car due to the wet conditions,
which favoured three-time champion Rivett who proved he has what it
takes to race on a wet track as well as sea after securing the P1
Aqua X Sea-Doo Challenge title last weekend.

With
the lights of the safety car out, the race was go with championship
leader Jack Goff bolting into the first corner. Rivett meanwhile was
not going to make it easy for him, and similar to today’s previous
race, Rivett pulled the exact same move on Goff for the lead into
Deene hairpin. Once ahead, the Banstead driver began to pull out a
sizeable lead and was the first driver to be greeted by the chequered
flag to make it four consecutive wins and fastest lap.

‘I
had a great race’, expressed Rivett. ‘To start under the safety
car was the right decision as those conditions were quite bad and I
imagine they must have been quite hairy for the guys at the back
through the first turn. I was pleased with the whole race in general.
I knew I was quicker than Jack and once I got passed him I just
disappeared into the distance. The Stancombe boys have done a
fantastic job on the car this weekend, to make it go that quick in
the wet and pull away from the others like that is just superb. I
would also like to thank PER HIRE for getting me here in the first
place.’

Four
on the bounce now and we’ve got to keep that going, which will be
eight on the bounce by the end of the season. We’re on a roll and
we’re going to keep that going’, said a delighted Rivett.

Having
lead the championship from the very first weekend at Brands Hatch in
April, Goff was looking to go one better than in today’s previous
round, but it wasn’t to be. The High Wycombe driver produced a
stunning drive, but due to poor visibility from a steamed up
windscreen, he eventually had to surrender the lead and settle for
the second step on the podium for the second time this weekend.

‘It
was very eventful’, said Goff. ‘We got a great start and I was
able to get the break on the rest of the field before the second
safety car came out. It was all going quite well, the carfelt good,
but once the safety car pulled into the pits we began to struggle
with all-round grip, oversteer on the entrance and understeer in the
middle of the corners, which I was trying to deal with in tough
conditions but my windscreen steamed up so badly that I couldn’t
see out of it at all. I began guessing where I was meant to turn in,
it got to the point where it was just hope knowing where I had to
turn in. That race was really a matter of just hanging on. We’ve
led the championship from the very first race and we have to make
sure we’re leading it after the last race.’

Rounding
off the podium in third once again was James Dixon, who, similar to
all the drivers, found the conditions difficult and spent the
majority of the race on his own despite setting consistent fast lap
times. The 22-year old will now be looking to hold on to his third
position in the driver’s table heading into the final two weekends
of the season.

Renault Clio Motorboats battling around Rockingham

‘It
was good fun’, expressed Dixon. ‘It was a bit of a boring race on
my own, we seemed strong at the start but Paul began to pull away at
midpoint as he seemed to have a bit more cornering grip than me,
which is unfortunate, but to finished third is another great handful
of points. With Paul and Jack ahead of me in the championship, I
haven’t been able to catch them at all, but I’m happy with today.
It was two podiums that we didn’t have at the start of the season.’

Also
replicating his finishing position from today’s earlier race was
Rookie winner Josh Cook. The 20Ten Racing driver, who prefers the wet
conditions, was able to hold off a rampaging Josh Files, who was also
experiencing tough visibility conditions due to a steamed windscreen,
to bring the car home in a strong fourth place and extend his lead by
31 points over rival Ant Whorton-Eales in the Rookie Trophy
championship.

Even
in the tricky wet conditions, the drivers were able to keep all four
wheels on the track and bring the cars home in one piece, except from
Scuderia Vittoria’s Ronnie Klos and MBR’s Mike Bushell, who ran
wide at Gracelands beaching himself in the gravel pit.

As
for the ELF Masters Trophy, it was once again Simon Belcher who
brought his black and yellow KÄRCHER Clio home in twelfth place and
collect his bottle of champagne, Masters hat and trophy.

‘Survival
would probably be the best description of today’, said a relived
Belcher. ‘Conditions were really tough we didn’t really have the
balance in the car to start with. I had a feeling the car was going
to be a bit like that as the car had a lot of oversteer to start
with, so that wore the front tires down a bit and then the balance of
the car came back to me, which towards the end we got quicker and
quicker.’

After
four years of racing in the AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup Championship,
it was time for veteran Darren Wilson to hang up his Clio gloves to
focus more on the management of 20Ten Racing Ltd. The 46-year old
will not be absent from the Clio paddock as he intends on attending
every race to support the team and drivers for the rest of this
season and next.

‘My
final race wasn’t great at all’, commented Wilson. ‘I had no
grip, and I don’t know if everyone was the same, but I was
struggling to keep the car on the track, which is not a great way to
finish your Clio Cup career. It was very slippery out there. Klos
went off in front of me on the green flag lap, twice, so that showed
just how slippery it was out there. As soon as we tried to get up to
racing speed I couldn’t stay with anybody as I had no grip, so it
was a matter of trying to survive and bring the car home in one
piece.’

‘Hopefully
I am going to be doing some classic car racing next year and also
maybe do some other championships, but I will mainly be focusing on
running the team and hopefully getting three strong drivers in the
team for next year. Roll on Clio in 2013!’

The
championship has a one-week break before action resumes at the
Britain’s legendary Silverstone circuit on the 6/7 October. All
attention will be on title rivals Rivett and Goff as the championship
enters its last two race weekends.